An increase in income tax rate means you'll pay a higher percentage of your income to the government. This directly reduces your disposable income, the money you have left after taxes for spending or saving. This can make it harder to afford basic necessities, save for retirement, or invest in your future.
1. Preserve the current tax rates and brackets enacted under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
- Family-owned businesses rely on the consistency of tax rates more than corporate businesses due to the increased complexity in succession planning.
- In addition, family businesses are uniquely suited to reinvest more in their business, their employees, and their communities, according to the results of the 2024 Annual Business Survey, with 52% of respondents indicating that if they paid less in taxes, they would invest more in the business, and 30% indicating they would raise their employees’ salaries.
- Other than reducing the federal deficit, reducing income taxes is the top economic-policy priority for family businesses, according to 23% of respondents.
2. Reduce the estate tax rate
- Estate taxes severely hamper the ability for family business owners to pass the business and related assets (which are typically illiquid) to the next generation, making it more difficult for the business to continue growing, providing important jobs, and contributing to local communities.
- Of family businesses surveyed, 70% have generational employees and 81% have been in operation for 20 years or more. Eliminating the estate tax consistently ranks among the top three priorities.
3. Make permanent the Section 199A deduction for passthrough businesses
- The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act included a new deduction to help ensure business owners pay tax rates more comparable to the corporate tax rate reduced by the TCJA; if allowed to expire, the section 199A deduction will be uniquely and severely disadvantage passthrough businesses.
- Of family businesses surveyed, 78% operate as passthrough businesses, whether a partnership, LLC, S corporation, or other non-corporate structure.
4. Restore the full deductibility of research and development (R&D) expenses
- The R&D deduction has historically been a bipartisan issue, gaining support from both parties in discussions on economically beneficial provisions to include in a 2025 tax bill.
- According to the most recent family business survey, 22% of family-owned businesses are in the manufacturing/operations industry and 11% are in the construction/facilities industry, which rely heavily on R&D investment.
5. Restore 100% bonus depreciation
- Next to their commitment to their employees, family-owned businesses rely on capital investments to compete, grow, and thrive. Bonus depreciation is a critical tool for family businesses to support their capital investments and finance facilities and equipment critical to their ability to grow, expand employment, and contribute to the communities in which they operate.
6. Preserve the capital-gains tax rate
- Like the estate tax, the capital-gain taxes present an obstacle for capital formation and investments necessary for family businesses to expand, modernize, and succeed in an increasingly competitive market, with 13% of family businesses ranking it in their top three tax policies of concern – a 4% increase over the 2023 Survey.
7. Prevent the creation of a wealth tax
- Wealth taxes – taxes on existing assets and unrealized gains – will be particularly harmful to family business owners who often disproportionately invest in the business in the hopes of passing it on to the future generations.
- In the most recent Family Business Survey, respondents identified preventing a “Wealth Tax” as one of their top five economic priorities – a concern that was nonexistent in prior years.
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The need for fact-based reporting of issues important to family offices and successful individuals and protecting a lifetime of savings has never been greater. Now more than ever, family offices and successful individuals are under fire. That’s why Policy and Taxation Group is passionately working to increase the awareness of issues important to family offices and successful individuals, while continuing to strengthen our presence on Capitol Hill.
Policy and Taxation Group is the Voice for Family Offices and Successful Individuals in Washington, DC focused exclusively on the critical tax and economic policies that impact them.
Since 1995, Policy and Taxation Group has been the leading advocacy group working to reduce and eliminate estate tax, gift tax, and generation skipping transfer tax while blocking increased income tax and capital gains taxes, the creation of a wealth tax, and other hostile tax policies that punish hardworking taxpayers and success.
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